Chapter 5- A Fight and an Idea

"Who could Shadow be though?" Serena said, "It's weird, I've never seen a villain quite like her before"
"How's she any different from the millions of other bad guys you've fought?" Darien asked curiously.

"I can't put my finger on it, to tell you the truth", Serena said, "There's just something about her that sets her apart from everyone else. And it's driving me nuts, to be perfectly honest with you"
"Was she familiar to you?"
"No", Serena said after a second, "But Mina said she couldn't shake the feeling that she knew her from somewhere. Shadow…"

"Maybe you know a kid who's nickname is Shadow", Darien suggested, "And that's why it's so familiar to you"
"Yea, that could be it!" Serena beamed. She knew asking Darien for help had been the right choice, she'd just known it. "Anyways", she said, trying to change the subject, "The point of this date wasn't to talk about Sailor business, it was so we could spend some time together, right?"
"Right", recently they'd both been rather busy. Darien had a job and school to contend with, and Serena had been having a stream of tests lately, so their dates were put on hold. Now that the girls couldn't study at Rei's anymore though, and Darien finally got a day off, Serena had wiggled out of a study session to get a date with him. So far all they had talked about was their new enemy, but now seemed like a perfect time to intervene.

"How's your new job been going?" Serena asked, stirring the ice in her soda.

"Not bad really, and surprisingly", he answered, "I didn't think I'd like it much at first, to be honest. How've your tests been?"
"Er, lets not talk about those, shall we?" Serena said quickly.
"Serena…"
"I've been doing overtime studying at Rei's, that isn't the problem", Serena informed him icily, "It's just that the test are so hard and I can never remember anything, it's such a pain—"
Beep-Beep

"Perfect timing", Serena muttered under her breath, grabbing her communicator, "What's up Amy?"
"Attack downtown", Amy informed her tersely, "Get here as fast as you can!"
"Shadow?" Serena asked at once.

"The one and only"
"I'll be right down", she shoved her communicator back in her bag and grabbed her stuff, "I'm really sorry Darien", she said as she flung her bag over her shoulder.

"Go do what you have to", Darien said, "As a matter of fact, I think I'll join you for this fight. Lets go"

"Yah!" Mina screamed as she jumped out of the way of an oncoming fireball, "Watch it you pyromaniac!"
"Oh you're so right", Shadow said mockingly, "I aimed too low"

"Jupiter Thunder Crash!" the attack came out of nowhere. But still, Shadow dodged it, turning her eyes on Lita.

"Is that all you can do?" she asked, "Boy are you weak. Take that!"

A fireball shot out of her hands, and slammed the ground right below where Lita was. "Aaahhhh!" she screamed as she was thrown backwards.

"Jupiter!" Mina and Amy yelled at the same time. They ran over to help their injured friend.

"Are you okay?" Mina asked, concerned.

"I'm fine, but that girl has gotta be shot out of the picture", Lita said through gritted teeth, holding her arm tightly.

"Aw", Shadow said in a fake baby voice, landing in front of them, "Little Jupiter hurt? I can take care of that in a jiff, just hold still—"

The three girls tensed, ready for the hit…

"You won't feel a thing", Shadow assured them, "Much, anyway—"
A red rose flew out of nowhere and hit the ground in front of Shadow. "What?" her head spun around, her eyes landing on a nearby building, "You!"
"Tuxedo Mask!" Lita, Mina, and Amy chorused. Sure enough, there was Darien, a rose clutched in his hand. And standing next to him was…
"Sailor Moon!"
"So the cowardly Sailor shows her face at last", Shadow smirked, "This should be fun"
"Why do you insist on fighting us?" Serena asked, glaring down at her.

"In this world good always wins, so if you're looking to be on the winning side", Darien added, "Than your out of luck!"

"The problem with that is", Shadow said, "I've already been on the "winning side" as you put it. It isn't all that great. Now beat it cape boy!"
She shot a fireball at the roof, but Darien, thinking fast, grabbed Serena and jumped down. Mina took the opportunity to her advantage.

"Venus Love Chain Encircle!" Shadow may have been quick, but being distracted was no good for her. She jumped out of the way to avoid a bad blow, but she was still hit.

"Ah!" the chain sliced her ankle, and she landed hard.

"Gotcha", Serena said, running up to join the Scouts, "Good thinking Venus"
"All in a day's work", she said with a wink.

"You got lucky", Shadow said, stumbling up. Venus's attack had a done a number on her. The girls could tell the fight was over. For now. "This isn't the end", Shadow informed them icily, "Next time we fight I will win"

She whirled on the spot and vanished.

"That looks like a bad cut Shadow", Azumi said with a fake note of concern in her voice, "Want a hand with it?"
"Why, so you can slip in some poison?" Rei asked, wrapping a bandage around her ankle, "Take a hike Azumi"

"You slipped up big this time", Azumi sang gleefully, "No way you can fight if you're hurt!"
"I'm not hurt", Rei informed her, standing up, "See? Good as new. The Sailor Scout mission is still mine Azumi, so don't go pawing around. Kejano gave me the job, get over it"

Your leg is sliced up bad", Azumi pushed, "I'm beginning to think you wanted to get hurt"
"Why would I want to get hurt?"
"So Kejano would pull you down and you wouldn't have to fight your friends", she said silkily.

"You're delusional", Rei snapped, finishing wrapping up the cut and standing up, "Get over yourself"

"Who me?" Azumi said innocently.

"Gimme a break", Rei snapped, turning away, "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous"

"Jealous?" Azumi repeated scathingly, "Now who has to get over herself?"
"Hmph", she turned to leave, "Just make sure you can keep one thing straight: this is still my mission, got it?"
"Oh of course great Shadow", Azumi said, mock bowing.

"Funny", Rei said sarcastically, "I'm outta here. See ya"
She whirled on the spot and disappeared. Azumi rolled her eyes as she glared at the spot where Rei had stood. I was in charge here before she came along, Azumi thought bitterly, This could very well still become my mission. She hesitated one second too long fighting those Scouts. She's still got a human heart in her, and if she's like anyone else, she would never try to destroy her friends. She'll be dismissed in no time. And then it'll be my turn. It's only a matter of time

"Basha", she snapped into the air.

"Yes, mistress?" the air said silkily. Azumi rolled her eyes. She hated it when Basha did this, but if this was what she wanted, fine.

"I want you to keep an eye on Shadow", Azumi said, "I'm sure there's still a chance she could turn on us. Make sure it happens"

"As you wish, mistress", Azumi sighed. She wasn't sure if Basha was gone yet. She'd just have to assume. Shadow won't last here forever, she thought, smirking, She'll see, it'll be harder than she thinks when she realizes what fighting against her friends really means

"Man", Lita muttered, wrapping her wrist up in an ace bandage, "Didn't see that coming", she winced in pain and gingerly finished bandaging her wrist.

"You sure you're okay Lita?" Mina asked, moving over to help her.

"Fine", Lita said quickly, pulling away. She hated it when people tried to help her, she was an independent sort of person.

"That was a pretty rough fight", Amy said, "I wonder why she took off so quick"
"Mina hit her leg pretty good", Serena pointed out "Probably figured she couldn't fight if she was hurt"
"I wish we knew where she came from", Mina said suddenly, "Is she just some run of the mill bad girl that'll come and go, or was she sent by someone that we should worry about?"
"That's not a bad question", Amy said, "this is something we should look into"

"Too bad Luna and Artemis aren't here", Mina said thoughtfully, "We could ask them to stake out the city, take a look around--"
"No!" Serena yelled, "If I know those two, this whole thing is about making sure we can take care of ourselves. You know they don't completely trust us, now is our chance to prove them wrong!"

"Good point", Lita said, "All right, we handle this on our own"

"Too bad we don't know what we're handling", Amy said with a note of bitterness.

"Er…good point", Serena said, grinning sheepishly.

Mina shook her head and smiled, "Why don't we sleep on it? Lets get home, think it over, and meet again tomorrow. How does that sound to you guys?"

Serena didn't have a problem with getting home and mulling over the problem. There was one person she did have a problem with though.

"Rei!" Rei whirled around to face Serena, who was running down the street after her.

"What do you want Serena?" she snapped, "I'm a little busy"
"I wanted to talk to you", Serena started off carefully, "About why you started hating us so much"
"Reasons", Rei said with a shrug, "I have to go Serena, sorry. Well, now that I think about it, I'm really not"

"Rei—" Serena started to try to stop her, but suddenly caught sight of something that made her stop short, "Rei…what's wrong with your sock?"
The girl winced and looked down at her sock. It was deep red. "Oh shoot…"

She pushed her sock down, and Serena yelped, "Rei what happened?"

"It's nothing", she stuttered quickly. Under her breath though, Serena heard Rei mutter, "If Azumi hadn't been distracting me I could have wrapped it better"
"What?"
"What?" Rei said, looking up.

"Rei, what happened to your ankle?" Serena said.

"Er…temple accident", she said lamely, "I slipped and sliced it on a sharp rock"

"A rock?" Serena said doubtfully.

"Yea", Rei said, pulling her sock up and standing, "It happens. Would you please stop giving me the third degree Serena, I can take care of myself. Good bye"
She made her way down the street, and this time Serena didn't bother to stop her. If I didn't know better, Serena thought, I'd say that Rei…is Shadow

I'm gonna be honest here. ONE person reviewed my last chapter. I'm beginning to wonder if the story is really worth it. I'm not saying you have to love it, even flames would be good, but PLEASE review, I'm BEGGING you